Gloves found near Nancy Guthrie’s home belonged to restaurant worker, have no connection to the case

DNA from gloves found about 2 miles away from Nancy Gunthrie’s Arizona home was traced back to a local restaurant worker who has no connection to the investigation, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.

“Sheriff [Chris] Nanos stated in a recent interview that the black gloves found approximately 2 miles away from Nancy Guthrie’s home were traced back via DNA analysis to a person who works at a restaurant in the area. That person is not considered part of this investigation,” a department spokesperson told CBS News in a statement. “Lab analysis remains underway on other DNA evidence.”

A black glove was found near Nancy Guthrie’s home on Feb. 11, and days later, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said a DNA profile from the gloves that were submitted to a national database maintained by the FBI didn’t come back with any matches. The FBI said at the time that the suspect seen in the doorbell camera video appeared to be wearing similar gloves.

The DNA profile had been submitted to the database known as CoDIS, or Combined DNA Index System, the sheriff’s department said. The national database maintained by the FBI could have provided a match if the individual had a previous arrest for certain crimes and supplied a DNA sample that put him into the system.

The glove was found in a field near a roadside and was one of approximately 16 gloves collected by investigators in various areas near the house, but most of those other gloves belonged to searchers who discarded them while working the area, the FBI has said.

Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” show co-host Savannah Guthrie, was first reported missing on Feb. 1, sparking a massive search effort for the 84-year-old.

The sheriff’s department has also sent DNA evidence from the scene to a private lab in Florida, rather than the FBI’s lab in Quantico, Virginia. Nanos told CBS News at the time that his agency has been sending evidence to the Florida lab for years, and he doesn’t want samples sent to two different facilities. The sheriff has said he’s hopeful that the DNA will lead to a name.

DNA recovered from Nancy Guthrie’s home may not yield a usable profile of the suspect, according to sources close to the investigation, with one source calling it “low-level.”

Nancy Guthrie’s family offered a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to her recovery. The FBI is also offering a reward of $100,000.